Whitecourt Trailblazers celebrate 40 years with a fun-filled weekend of riding

This past weekend, the Whitecourt Trailblazers Snowmobile Club held its annual Sled Invasion celebrating the 40th anniversary of the club. Three jam-packed days kept the local trails buzzing with activity and brought in new experiences for residents and visitors. One of the neatest changes to the festivities was having a freestyle show by Octane Addictions right smack dab in the centre of downtown Whitecourt.

In previous years, the show was held at the Agricultural Society grounds, but organizers were given the opportunity to do something totally different. “We had originally just planned to do the parade and then Octane Addictions approached us and said they wanted to do a freestyle show for us and that they wanted to do it a little smaller than last time,” explained Trailblazers executive assistant, Cindy Brooks.

The smaller show meant the cost was also smaller. “We were able to raise the money for the show through sponsorship. The community really came through for us. It enabled us to offer the show for free while also supporting the food bank.” Rather than have a ticket cost, eager watchers simply had to bring a food donation. “Anyone who couldn’t afford it last time or who couldn’t make it out to the Agricultural Society could come and enjoy it. Everyone could come.”

The freestyle show was held twice over the weekend, on both Friday and Sunday, and the ramps were set up in the intersection by CIBC. Although it was chilly on Friday evening, a large crowd gathered to watch the show as one by one the riders revved their machines up the ramp and became airborne doing insane tricks for the enthralled onlookers below. On Saturday evening, the Road Hammers, with guest JJ Shiplett, took to the stage at the AJMC which was presented by the Whitecourt & Woodlands Performing Arts Society.

Back in 2015, the Trailblazers broke the Guinness World Record for the longest parade of snowmobiles and the record still stands today at 1,047. Even though its their own record, they decided to try and do it again. They did get a large crowd in to take part, but it wasn’t enough to add to the record. “We’re not sad that we didn’t break the record. We are so excited that everybody got to come out. The greatest thing about the whole parade was how many kids came out, close to 150. They weren’t all necessarily riding a sled, but they were part of it. Having the kids involved is what we focused on right from the beginning.”

In a Facebook post following the parade, the Trailblazers stated they had 480 sleds. In total, there were over 600 but only riders who were over 18 could be counted. “They were not counted, unfortunately, due to Guinness World Record guidelines and there have been questions and comments about that but, unfortunately, we were not able to count them,” explained Brooks.

Overall, she said the parade was very good and that they received lots of great feedback from riders. They aren’t too sure how many people took the ride as they don’t have an official number including passengers. “We were basically just keeping track of sleds. It was a pretty exciting event and it happened so fast.” On Saturday and Sunday, riders took to the trails by the hundreds for the north and south route rallies.  

“The trails are very good. We’ve had great snow this year. Our south side is doing extremely well, and we’ve probably groomed it four or five times. The trail on the north side had some cat issues and some water issues, so we haven’t been able to get out. We’ve had lots of wet waterways so getting our cats out to do trail cleaning and grooming has been difficult,” said Brooks. Even so, riders enjoyed themselves. There were vintage snowmobiles on display by the Alberta Relic Riders and many took part in the parade which was fun to see. Two videos from the parade can be viewed on the Whitecourt Press Facebook page.

Brooks said she is overwhelmed with the support the club has received and is proud to be part of such a great group of individuals. “I’m so overwhelmed with all the people who have been involved through the 40 years and the work that our club has done. Our volunteers are amazing! Our club is amazing! Every time I look at the people who are still involved tears come to my eyes. There are many people in our club who are still here from the 1980s and it’s really exciting to have them. I just give them a big high five because they have kept our club running. They still manage part of our club and are still on our executive.”

Along with all the fun and excitement of the weekend, there were also a ton of prizes to be won thanks to very generous sponsors. “We had over $30,000 in prizes this year so that tells you how much support we get in our community. To all our volunteers, sponsors, donators, and riders, thank you!”